Doofus Rufus
by ValerieTheGhost
Summary: She brought her hands out, which were gripping a hat in them. It was a sort of pink hat with a pink feather, but Rufus looked at it in shock. Nobody had ever really given him a present before. Lucy smiled at his reaction and leaned forward on her tippy toes, placing the hat firmly on his head. "Now you can be one of those annoying fancy people my dad always makes me be polite to."


_**AN: A little something I cooked up while sitting around. The idea came to me when I realized Rufus rhymed with Doofus.**_

_**Disclaimer: I don't own any places, people or objects in this story. Except the one hundred and two pounds of Ricky the bully, and the jogging woman who complained about her children.**_

* * *

Lucy watched the birds, pecking at the greening grass as twittering to each other. She giggled softly and 'silently' crept towards them. A twig snapped underneath her and the birds squawked, a few of the cautious ones flying away. She focused on one of the birds, a fat looking one who hadn't even looked up when the twig snapped. She imagined herself as a ferocious lion and leapt out at the bird, trying to grab it. The birds trilled and flew away, their wings spreading as they flew somewhere else to enjoy a meal. Lucy frowned, she hadn't caught one. Her spirits immediately lifted as she gulped in another breath of fresh air, free air.

For the first time in her entire seven years of life Lucy was outside the estate. She saw people walking around, talking, shopping and playing. So far she hadn't seen any children but she was practically dying of excitement at the prospect. She skipped along the sidewalk of a quite, friendly neighborhood. A woman walked past her and stared at her curiously but Lucy smiled brightly and stopped her.

"Hello Ma'am." Lucy said, in her best polite voice.

The woman beamed down at her. "Aren't you a sweetheart? What d'you need little miss?"

Lucy smiled widely, basking in the glow of the woman's compliment. "Uh...do you think you could give me directions to the nearest park?" She looked at the woman pleadingly.

Said woman, who wore a track suit and had brown hair up in a pony tail, nodded and pointed down the road. "So you go past these houses and then you'll turn left- you know which one is left, right?" Lucy nodded and she continued. "Then continue down that street and there should be a nice big park with a lake."

Lucy smiled and offered her thanks to the woman who just smiled and mumbled something about wishing her children had half of Lucy's manners. This made Lucy smile a little, since she understood what the woman was talking about. She waved and skipped along the pretty pavement in a little pair of flats, her shoulder length hair swishing as she did so. Lucy inhaled through her nose, smiling. The sky was robin's egg blue and the clouds looked like bundles of little fluffy rabbit tails. It was the perfect day for exploring.

Not to mention that it was spring and that meant that the air felt nice and cool and the trees were pretty and green. Flowers bloomed everywhere and Lucy made a point to stop and admire them as she followed the sidewalk down the street. The houses lined on each side of the street were pristine, two-story homes with picket fences and fancy cars. Of course, none of the houses were as big as Lucy's and she doubted they had a staff of maids and butlers, plus cooks and gardeners but she didn't really want to brag about it because Lucy certainty didn't feel like it was a big accomplishment.

Lucy paused at the stop sign, because she wasn't sure whether she should continue if the sign said stop. She then decided that she didn't have to follow any ruled and completely disregarded the sign as she turned left and skipped merrily down the street. These houses were the same as the last ones except in front of one of the houses was a prancing little puppy. Lucy cooed to it and smiled at the owner who was watching from the door before continuing on her way. The sounds of laughing children reached her ears and Lucy's heart soared. Kids, other kids, real live people just like her.

Lucy sprinted the rest of the way, her large brown eyes sparkling with excitement as she stood in front of a park area. The parking spaces weren't very plentiful because it was a neighborhood park and a little pond stood of to one side underneath a greening willow tree. The park itself had sets of pretty swings and a sandbox. There was a merry-go-round which kinds were standing on and laughing. The slides were all different sizes and Lucy was frozen, watching in fascination.

She approached cautiously, as if it was a mirage and it might disappear any moment. When it didn't Lucy released a breath she hadn't known she was holding. She took small steps, feeling slightly out-of-place while all the kids laughed and played with each other. She looked for something to do, someone to talk to and found nobody. She decided she would have to start from scratch and slowly began inching towards the slide.

"Doofus Rufus! Doofus Rufus!" She turned around, wanting to find the source of the screeching and found a group of boys, probably a few years older than her, pointing and laughing at something in the middle of the circle. She had a feeling that the 'something' was actually a someone named Rufus.

Lucy felt her temper flare. She didn't like bullies and she didn't really put up with them either. She dealt enough with her father ignoring and insulting her at home and she knew how it felt to be picked on, even though she was picked on my her father and not a group of boys. A group of boys who were holding rocks. Lucy felt her temper increase tenfold and stormed over to the group of boys underneath the willow tree.

"What're you gonna do, Doofus Rufus?" One of the boys, a rather heavy, pudgy faced boy chucked the rock that had been in his meaty hands, Lucy heard a yelp.

"Stop that now!" She shouted in her authoritative voice.

The boys turned around, one by one, and the one who had thrown the rock burst out laughing. "And what are you gonna do, Shrimp?"

Lucy glared daggers at the boy and stepped forward, a dangerous aura surrounding her. The boy took a step back but chuckled, albeit a little nervously.

"How old are you anyway? Four? Five?" He said, looking at his friends and prompting them to laugh with him.

"I'm seven, thank-you very much. Tell me, how much do you weigh? One hundred, two hundred pounds?" She hissed, sneering at the boy.

He stepped back and looked at her, offended.

"Actually, he's one-o-two. I heard his mom talking to a pediatrician." A boy, looking about her age, stood up and brushed himself off, rubbing his head where she assumed the rock hit him.

She snickered as the older boy glared at them. Then he picked up a rock and tossed it in his fat hand. "Oh really? Doofus Rufus, I didn't know you stalked people."

Rufus grinned slyly. "Only your mom Ricky."

Ricky's fat face consorted and he snarled at them before swinging his arm back to chuck his rock. Rufus' eyes widened and he grabbed Lucy by her arm as he ran past her.

"Run!" He shouted, as a barrage of rocks started being pelted at the both of them. Lucy laughed despite their situation, she felt like she was flying. Rufus dragged her pretty far, so far that they were almost at the Heartfilia Estate. She could see the gates. Finally Rufus stopped, laughing and panting for breath. He slumped on the sidewalk, facing the gates, still grinning madly. His blonde hair, much like hers, was ruffled from the wind and he tried to fix it with his hands.

"I'm Lucy." She said, offering her hand.

Rufus took it, looking at her weirdly. "Rufus."

She nodded and sat next to him silently. They stayed that way for a few minutes, Lucy sneaking little half glances at him, him staring at the gates that lead to her house, her prison. It was a large house overlooking the entire town. The hill it was on made it seem like it was a house for a king, when really it was a house for her mean father. She knew she would have to go back, soon, but she didn't want to.

"I want to live there someday." Rufus said, looking at her with sparkling dark green eyes.

Lucy shook her head and looked at him sadly. "No you don't."

"What? Yes I do!" He sputtered. "You can't tell me what I want."

"No, but I can tell you what it's like. It's horrible up there, nobody to talk to but the servants, no one to play with. There's a million empty rooms all the time, and the floors creak sometimes. It's too quite. The only good thing is-" Lucy was interrupted by Rufus' excited, curious voice.

"You've been in there?!" His green eyes were wide, his soft looking blonde hair looked especially untamed with his wild eyes.

Lucy frowned. "I live there. I'm Lucy Heartfilia."

Rufus mouth open and closed like a fish. "You- your- you live- WHAT?! YOUR THE HEIR TO THE HEARTFILIA KONZERN?!" He finally shouted, shooting up.

Lucy glared at him and waited patiently for him to sit down, he didn't so she signed and continued. "Yeah. But, like I said, it's not very fun."

"How? imagine how many rooms you could explore!" He shouted, astounded.

"But think about it. What fun would exploring be unless you could share your discoveries. Now, as I was saying, the only good thing is the library." Lucy stated, matter-of-factually.

Rufus' eyes took on a whole new kind of excitement. He was bouncing from foot to foot, his teeth chewing on his bottom lip. "L-library?"

"Mhm. There are thousands of books all the way up to the ceiling." She said, her voice getting softer like it was some big secret, Rufus sat and leaned closer. "There are shelves and shelves full of them. Books and books about everything you could imagine. And, "Her voice got real quite and she leaned towards him, her mouth pressed against his ear. "In the very corner of the library, in an old chest wedged between a bookshelf and the wall, are a dozen or so books on magic and mages. I've read almost all of them."

Rufus looked at her, eyes wide. "R-really? Shelves to the ceiling?" She nodded.

"And...and books about- about...Magic?" He whispered the last word like it was sacred and she nodded seriously.

Looking at him, so curious and so fascinated Lucy wanted him to be able to see it. She was sure that she could probably sneak him in, her father never paid any attention to her anyway. She thought about it. They could go in through the hole she had dug through the fence and then sneak into the library and she could show him it before sending him on his merry way. She was going to lean towards him to suggest it but realized that they were already sitting shoulder to shoulder, knee to knee.

She blushed and scrambled away just as Rufus had done the same thing, apparently also taking into account their proximity. Lucy smiled nervously.

"Rufus, do you...do you wanna see it?" She whispered, her eyes trained on him. "We'd have to sneak in though, I'm not ever allowed out of the house.

Rufus nodded, his blonde hair, which fell to his ears, bobbed with his as his head moved vigorously. Lucy beamed at him and stood up, brushing off her dress and skipping along the sidewalk.

"The gate is over there." He said, trying to tug her back towards the gate.

"Rufus-kun! I said that we have to sneak in, remember?" She said, pulling him back on track.

Rufus blushed at the honorific on his name but said nothing. He would be lying if he didn't think Lucy was pretty. She had blonde hair, just like him, but it was longer and shinier. Her eyes, unlike his, were big and brown and they reminded him of hot chocolate.

"We have to crawl through." Lucy said, motioning for Rufus to go first.

He looked at the pretty large hole under the fence and nodded before slipping underneath, Lucy following in suit. She smiled at him but said nothing, grabbing his wrist to guide him where they needed to go. Rufus blushed again but still remained silent.

"C'mon Rufus-kun, this way." She pointed at a sliding glass door. "Be really quite, 'kay?'

"Okay Lucy-chan." He whispered back to her, not missing the pink tinge of her cheeks.

She didn't let go of his wrist as they crept through the kitchen. Rufus marveled at the high ceilings and fancy decorations but Lucy passed right by them, hurrying down a corridor. She stopped directly in front of a set of large double doors with intricate designs.

"Are you ready?" She whispered.

He was too excited to speak, so he just nodded.

Lucy let go of his and stepped forward, pushing the door open with a tiny creak. Rufus stepped through the door and almost fainted. The ceiling was tall and, true to her word, the bookshelves went at high as it did, until the ceiling became glass and formed into a dome. The whole place smelled like aged paper and dust but Rufus relished the scent. Lucy beamed at him as she stood beside him.

"Lucy-chan." He whispered in awe.

"It's beautiful isn't it Rufus-kun?" She whispered back, stepping forward.

"It's magnificent." And then he sprinted, his fingers running along the spines of the books as a feeling of pure bliss enveloped him.

Lucy smiled at him as he began pulling book after book out. She ran out of the door quickly, not that Rufus noticed. He was to busy flipping through page after page of whatever he could find. There were books on almost every subject he could imagine, all except books on Magic. Most of the books he found were on etiquettes and business related things which didn't surprise him, he was in a house of a very well-known business man.

"Lucy-chan?" He whispered, looking around for his blonde companion.

He was met with silence and his eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "Lucy-chan, where are you?" He whispered again, looking around bookshelves for her.

"Boo!" A voice whispered in his ear.

Rufus jumped and swiveled around, his green eyes wide in surprise. Lucy stood there, her eyes glinting mischievously and her hands behind her back. She smiled brightly at him, watching as he clutched his chest and tried to calm his racing heart.

"You scared me!" He whispered furiously.

"I know." She said, still smiling brightly. "I got you a present."

She brought her hands out, which were gripping a hat in them. It was a sort of pink hat with a pink feather but Rufus looked at it in shock. Nobody has ever really given him a present before. Lucy smiled at his reaction and leaned forward on her tippy toes, placing the hat firmly on his head.

"Now you can be one of those annoying fancy people my dad always makes me be polite to." She said, the smile never leaving her face.

The corners of Rufus' mouth twitched upwards as a grin slowly spread across his face. Without thinking he wrapped his arms around Lucy, hugging her tightly. She stood still for a moment before wrapping her arms around him as well and hugging his back. They both pulled away after a moment, blushing beet red.

"Thank-you, Lucy-chan." He said softly, still blushing.

"Y-your welcome, Rufus-kun." She murmured, looking at the ground and blushing as red as a tomato.

Their embarrassment was quickly forgotten when Rufus began flipping through books. They sat in the library for hours, uninterrupted because nobody really ever paid attention to what Lucy was doing and nobody was going to start then. They laughed at some of the books, blushed at the ones where the characters fell in love and huffed angrily when someone they liked died. They also debated, a lot, on their different opinions of the books, their theories on what would happen in them and anything else they didn't agree on.

At one point Lucy had started arguing with Rufus about the cruelty of catching lightning bugs.

"That's mean! You can't just put them in a jar forever!" She said indignantly, glaring at him.

"Yes you can! They're just bugs!" He hissed back, crossing his arms.

"It's cruel! How would you like it if someone put you in a jar?" She growled, forgetting about the book she was reading.

"I'm not a bug! I have emotions!" He replied, rolling his eyes at her.

"So do they! And don't roll-" She froze as a voice echoes through the library.

"Lucy-sama?" The loud but kind voice of one of the maid's bounced of the walls.

"Go away!" Lucy shouted, her eyes wide and panicked as she looked at Rufus.

"What do we do?" He whispered, frantic.

"I don't know!" She hissed back, desperately searching in her mind for an escape plan.

"It's time for your lunch Miss, your father says you must eat three-" The maid was cut off by Lucy.

"I know! I will! Later, I'm- I'm...I'm reading a really good book about a mathematical theory and I'm trying to concentrate!" She yelled back, pushing Rufus behind a book shelf.

"Ah. Well, I will return in thirty minutes then, and when I do you-" The maid was stopped by Lucy, again.

"Eat, yes I will! No, go, please!" She said loudly, watching Rufus as he his behind the bookshelf.

The sound of the big wooden doors closing was Lucy's only response and she quickly pulled Rufus from behind the shelf. "I- You- you have to go." She whispered sadly, looking up at him.

He frowned but nodded anyway, going to take off the hat and give it back. "I...I understand."

"No! Um, keep...keep the hat, okay?" She said, and began searching through the books on the table they were sitting at. "And this, it's my favorite." She shoved one of the books into his hand, and then grabbed his free arm, pulling her as she ran through the library doors quietly.

They rushed through the empty rooms and Lucy brought him out a different door, explaining that the kitchen would have people preparing her and her father's dinner. When they got outside Lucy led him to the hole leading outside. She stopped and looked at him sadly.

"It was nice meeting you Rufus-kun." She said, her voice disappointed.

He swallowed and nodded. "I- I won't forget you, I promise. Someday we'll see each other again, okay Lucy-chan? I promise that I'll see you again." He looked at the book in his hand and then back at her.

His eyes widened when her lips met his cheek in a soft, chaste kiss and he blushed. She blushed as well but smiled at him before taking off, her hair flying out against the wind. Rufus watched her, as she turned back around and shouted.

"Bye Rufus-kun!" She shouted, brown eyes sparkling and her smile shining.

He smiled back and waved before crawling through the hole, leaving the Heartfilia estate with a new friend, a new book and best of all, a new hat. His only hat, actually. He brought his hand up to the spot where Lucy had kissed him and he blushed again, smiling to himself. He would see her again, he knew it.

* * *

_Ten Years Later_

Lucy walked into her guild, seeing her friends for the first time after the Games. She smiled brightly at Mira and sat in her favorite seat.

"The usual?" Mira asked, smiling politely.

"Yeah, thanks Mira." Lucy replied, her eyes skimming over the guild hall for her team.

"It's nice to see your recovered." Mira said kindly before going to get Lucy a milkshake.

Lucy nodded, still looking for her friends. She was just about to give up when she heard the tell-tale voice of Natsu.

"What're you wearing, Ice Princess?" Natsu snickered, looking at Gray.

Lucy wandered over towards them but stopped as she caught sight of Gray. He was grinning triumphantly, a pinkish hat sitting on his head, a lighter pink feather sticking out of it.

"I took it after I beat the freaky memory guy." Gray said, taking the hat off and admiring it.

Lucy was still to shocked to say anything. Her brown eyes were wide as a million thoughts raced through her head. The pink hat was worn with time but it was still relatively the same as the day she had first given it away.

_Rufus-kun. _

_Rufus-kun!_

"-it's pink!" Natsu said insultingly.

"So is your hair, you prick!" Gray shouted at him.

"G-Gray?" Lucy whispered, her eyes still wide.

Both Natsu and Gray turned towards Lucy.

"What's up Luce? You look like you've seen a ghost." Natsu said, taking a step towards her.

"Gray, give me the hat." Lucy whispered, her eyes turning to look at Gray.

His eyebrows furrowed. "But Lucy-"

"Give me the hat Gray." She said, a little harsher than she intended.

Gray stepped back, frowning but handed Lucy the hat. "I'm sorry, I don't think I understand. Did I make you angry or something?" He asked, truly confused.

"Who...who did you take this from?" She whispered, her hand running over the hat gently.

"Rufus Lore, of Sabertooth. But, Lucy-" He wasn't able to finish his sentence as Lucy was already sprinting away, the doors slamming open as she rushed out.

"What just happened?" Natsu asked, confused.

"I have no clue." Gray muttered.

* * *

The door's of Sabertooth's guild slammed open with enough force to rattle the place. All eyes turned, as everybody froze and stared at a panting, wide eyed blonde.

"Why are you here?" Sting sneered, standing up.

"Where is he?" She said instead of answering while stepping into Sabertooth's guild.

"Who?" Sting said, approaching her.

"Rufus. Where is Rufus Lore?" She said, stepping forward and meeting Sting's gaze with her own.

"Why? Come to gloat about his defeat? Come to knock him down while he's already in the infirmary?" He snarled, glaring at him.

Lucy shook her head and looked towards the black-haired man sitting at Sting's table. "Where's the infirmary?"

One red eyes lazily moved to look at her, but the person said nothing.

"Please. Please tell me." She said, her voice pleading.

The man pointed towards a hall. "Last on the left." He said monotonously.

Sting's eyes widened. "Why'd you tell her Rogue? What if she tries to kill him?!"

"She had his hat." Rogue murmured, staring at the spot where the blonde had disappeared.

Lucy pushed the door to the infirmary open in a rush and it, much like almost every door Lucy had opened today, slammed against the wall loudly. It was effective in catching the attention of the only man in the room and his green eyes turned to look at Lucy, before widening.

"R-Rufus-kun." She whispered, the hat dropping onto the floor, she hadn't seen Rufus since two weeks before she had run away.

"L-Lucy-chan?" His voice was soft, hesitant.

Tears pooled in her eyes when she looked at him, bandaged and bruised. He held an open book in his hands, a book with a worn cover and golden lettering on the spine. It was the same book she had given him so many years ago.

"Rufus-kun!" She cried and threw herself onto the bed, her arms wrapping around him.

"O-ow." He muttered and shifted a little before bringing his arms around Lucy.

She trembled against him as she cried. She hadn't seen him in almost two years but the image still burned fresh in her mind. They had kissed, and she had left two weeks later without a word.

"I'm so sorry Rufus-kun. I'm sorry I left and I'm sorry I didn't tell you!" She cried harder into Rufus' shirt, her tears wetting the fabric.

Rufus frowned as he tilted her head and looked into her eyes. "Why did you leave?" He whispered.

Lucy sniffed but didn't turn away. "He- he had arranged a marriage." Her voice was just as quite, if not quieter than his. "It was to some gross older man who said that I would make 'delicious arm candy."

Her face wrinkled in disgust and she shivered remembering the way his eyes had raked over her body. Rufus' arms wrapped tighter around her as he pulled her fully into the bed beside him.

"I missed you. I missed you so much." She whispered, her eyes still locked with his.

His eyes darted down to her lips and Lucy licked them subconsciously, her mouth becoming fry as Rufus' green eyes darkened a bit. "I missed you as well, Lucy-chan."

His lips met hers as they both leaned forward and Lucy felt her heart kick into overdrive as she wrapped her arms around his neck. SHe smiled against him, feeling like she had just won the lottery. She had found him, she had found the man she had spent two years wondering about. His hands cupped her face as he pulled her closer to him, and she could feel his own smile against her lips.

"What the fuck!?" A voice shouted as Rufus and Lucy broke apart, the latter blushing darkly and hiding her face in Rufus' chest.

Rufus, however, merely let his arm wrap around Lucy as she lay on his bed and watched as Sting picked up his hat. "Ah, my hat, I'll take it, if you don't mind." He said calmly, a smirk tugging at the corner of his lips.

Sting looked at him with an open mouth as Rogue merely watched on. Lucy buried her face further into Rufus but he could feel her body shake with laughter. "Wh- what? What are you doing?!" Sting exploded, his blue eyes wide.

"They were kissing Sting. I'm sure you are not unfamiliar with the action." The monotone voice of Rogue said to his blonde partner.

Said statement was followed by a muffled giggle coming from Lucy and Rufus saw Rogue's lips twitch a little.

"Exactly as he said. We were kissing, and, if you don't mind, it is something I would very much like to continue. Also, my hat." Rufus said, ignoring the laughter that was coming from Lucy as he chuckled.

Sting sputtered as Rufus looked at him expectantly. Rogue merely sighed, snagged the hat out of Sting's frozen hand and tossed it to Rufus who put the hat in and dipped his head in thanks.

"Close the door on you way out." He said to Sting as Rogue walked away.

The blonde backed away slowly, grabbing the doorknob as he went so that it closed as he took his last step out the door. He stared at it for a minute before running back into the guild hall.

"RUFUS HAS A GIRLFRIEND!" He shouted to everyone in the room.

Meanwhile Rufus was looking into Lucy's sparkling brown orbs, his hand cupping her cheek as his thumb brushed over her jaw. "Where were we?" He murmured before pressing his lips against hers.

_**Finish. **_


End file.
